Outside Athens International Airport, Lizard Misty stood beside Ryosho’s body, clutching his chest.
His deep blue eyes were filled with confusion.
He could not understand why Ryosho had suddenly stopped at the critical moment of their duel.
Had Ryosho not held back, Misty would have been the one lying on the ground.
He looked at Ryosho with mixed emotions, unsure what to make of him.
After witnessing Ryosho’s Cosmo, Misty realized that he had already held back during their first duel.
This time, Ryosho had even traded his own life to save Misty’s.
Misty had never owed anyone a favor.
But how could he ever repay a debt like this?
“Misty-sama won!”
The Sanctuary foot soldiers who had been playing dead immediately scrambled to their feet when they saw that Misty had won.
Limping over to his side, they surrounded Ryosho’s body.
“He actually dared to oppose the Sanctuary.”
“And he stole our Greek heritage.”
“Heh heh.
I thought this punk was supposed to be tough, but he’s all bark and no bite.”
“Misty-sama truly deserves to be called the strongest Silver Saint.”
As they spoke, the foot soldiers began punching and kicking Ryosho’s body.
“Weren’t you trying to escape?”
“Get up and run, then!”
“Where could you possibly escape with Misty-sama here?”
Misty flushed at their words and shouted sternly, “Enough!”
“Remove his Cloth.”
“As for his body…”
“Take his body back to the Sanctuary and give him a proper burial.”
The foot soldiers flinched at Misty’s rebuke and smiled awkwardly.
Then they reached for the Crateris Cloth covering Ryosho’s body.
At that moment, a sphere of light suddenly appeared in the air.
Glowing with an eerie green radiance, it flew toward Ryosho.
“W-what is that?”
The foot soldiers recoiled in fright.
Misty frowned as he watched the strange phenomenon.
The green sphere reached Ryosho, then sank into his body.
“What the hell is that thing?”
“Did we just see a ghost?”
“What ghost?
It’s broad daylight!
Hurry up and remove his Cloth.
Misty-sama is watching!”
“Right.”
“Hot!
Hot!
Hot!”
One of the foot soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and reached for Ryosho’s Cloth.
The instant his hand touched it, however, the intense heat radiating from its surface burned him.
Ryosho opened his eyes and rose from the ground.
“He…
he…
he came back from the dead!”
The foot soldiers stumbled backward in terror.
Ryosho looked at them coldly.
“Which one of you kicked me just now?”
“A ghost!
It’s a ghost!”
The foot soldiers scattered in every direction.
Ryosho extended one finger.
Dozens of beams of white light shot from his fingertip and blasted every one of them away.
He then lowered his head, picked up the Cloth helmet that had fallen to the ground, and calmly looked at Lizard Misty.
“So, are we still going to fight?”
Misty looked at Ryosho, then at the foot soldiers writhing in pain on the ground.
He remembered how Ryosho had held back earlier.
Could someone so upright and merciful truly be the traitor the Pope had described?
Could he really be the thief who had stolen a Cloth?
The Crateris Cloth had been lost for years.
That was hardly a secret within the Sanctuary.
Calling Ryosho a thief made no sense.
Besides, a thief probably would not have been able to wear the Crateris Cloth in the first place.
With that thought, Misty walked toward Ryosho.
As he passed him, he said, “I, Misty, was defeated by the Crateris Saint.
That will be my answer when the Pope questions me.”
He paused.
“But Crateris, the next time we meet, I hope you won’t hold back against me again.
I won’t hold back either.”
Ryosho was somewhat surprised.
He had expected Misty to insist on settling their duel once and for all.
Still, even though Misty had survived their encounter, he would soon die at Seiya’s hands.
“Wait.”
Ryosho called out to Misty and removed his Cloth.
The Crateris Cloth reassembled in midair, returning to its unworn chalice form before slowly descending to the ground.
“Misty, I know you won’t believe anything I say.”
“I assume you’ve heard about the special ability of the Crateris Cloth.”
Misty’s expression shifted.
“Rather than listen to me, see it for yourself.”
Ryosho filled the Cloth with clear water, then closed his eyes, turned around, and walked aside.
Misty stared at the chalice-shaped Crateris Cloth on the ground.
After hesitating briefly, he approached it.
He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and looked into the water filling the Cloth.
A moment later, he raised his head, his eyes flickering with complex emotions.
Ryosho did not know what Misty had seen.
Nor did he care.
He had already done everything he could.
Whether Misty could change his fate was now up to Misty himself.
Ryosho slung the Crateris Cloth over his back and ran toward the airport.
At this rate, he might still catch his flight.
…
“Tsk, tsk.
I never expected you to spare him, kid.
Why were you so ruthless when you fought me?
Had I not already been dead, I would have ended up dying by your hand.”
Deathtoll sat with one leg crossed over the other in the private courtyard within the Saint Spirit Tablet, grumbling indignantly.
“Because you’re hideous!”
Ryosho answered without hesitation.
“I knew it.”
Deathtoll sat up, covered his face with both hands, and began to sob.
“Is being ugly a crime in this world?”
Listening to Deathtoll’s dry wailing, which sounded like a crow cawing, Ryosho’s mouth twitched.
A rough, burly man over six feet tall was bawling in a deep voice.
It was utterly unbearable.
Ryosho felt as though he had not taken in the heroic spirit of a Saint, but a complete lunatic.
Once more people arrived, who knew how chaotic this place would become?
Ryosho pressed a hand to his forehead.
“It’s because you were too strong.
I was afraid I’d die if I held back.
Satisfied?”
Deathtoll’s sobbing stopped at once, and he reclined in the lounge chair again.
“That’s more like it.
Still, you’ve hidden this place well, kid.
A private courtyard, warm sunlight, and even a view of the outside world.
It’s practically another Elysion, far better than Hell.”
“If people knew this was where they could go after death, they’d fight each other for the chance to get in.”
“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke about Hell?” Ryosho replied with a cold laugh.
“If you had seen Hell, you wouldn’t think it was a joke.
It’s a place where even the dead can find no peace.”
Deathtoll seemed to recall his experiences in Hell and shuddered.
Ryosho fell silent.
Sometimes, he felt that the existence of Hell might not be entirely bad.
“By the way, kid, why don’t you take me as your master and learn my Praesepe Underworld Waves?
It’s extremely powerful.
You’ll be able to travel freely between the real world and Yomotsu Hirasaka.”
“To be honest, the Cancer Temple ought to be guarded by someone as upright and powerful as you.”
“Leaving it to that brat Deathmask…”
“He might defect to Hades one day.”
“Then help him attack us from within…”
Ryosho scoffed.
“Had you not mentioned Deathmask, I would have thought you were talking about yourself.”
Deathtoll began wailing again.
Ryosho simply blocked Deathtoll’s perception of the outside world.